Andy Robertson: Believe Me, The Lads Are Gutted

One of the few things to take comfort in from the Champions League Final on Saturday was Andrew Robertson’s performance. Our Scottish left back was every bit the warrior we’d known him to be throughout the season - even when it wasn’t enough to stop Real Madrid’s dark arts enabled steamrolling. That knowledge is of very little comfort to Robbo himself, coming from the dressing room yesterday after the defeat.

“I’d rather have had a stinker and we won. I’d rather 10 players turned up and I didn’t but we went home with the trophy,” Robertson said. “That’s just the type of person that I am. Hopefully we will have more nights like this.

“People say that you might not get to another one but we will try. We know it is the biggest tournament in Europe and it is so hard to get here.

“We can vouch for that. We will try our best. We will try to win trophies for the club and bring it success.”

Liverpool did ensure their spot amongst Europe’s elite again next season by finishing fourth in the Premier League this year, so they do have another shot at glory. All is not lost, but the silver medal hanging out of Robertson’s bag as he left the dressing room will be a sad reminder of what they did lose.

“I don’t know what I will do with it. That’s for another day,” Robertson said, when asked about the medal.

“It is still an achievement to get here but second is as good as last in my book. We wanted to win it. We were one step too short.

“It’s just devastation in the changing room. We are all upset. We have been on a good journey but we have just fallen short.

“Madrid have won it and are probably deserved winners. But, believe me, the lads are gutted.”

Oh, feeling it ourselves, we believe you, Robbo. It was just a freak series of bad luck, starting with the deliberate injury of Mohamed Salah, that led to Liverpool’s defeat. Naturally, Madrid needed to find some way to stifle the goalscorer and that was the best way to do it, but Robertson was fair to assess that it didn’t disturb things as much as their opponents had hoped.

“It just disrupted our rhythm a wee bit,” Robertson admitted.

“Mo has done unbelievable this season and for it to end that way for him was devastating. The last 10 minutes of the first half, we sat back and they created a couple of chances.

“It’s unfortunate. I hope Mo goes to the World Cup because a nation is relying on him. Hopefully he’ll come back bigger and stronger.”

Support is not in short supply with the team, and Robertson in particular, when the conversation turned to Karius and his heartbreaking mistakes. Loris Karius has already been maligned plenty for his accidental contribution to the loss but thankfully it appears the team were behind him in comfort.

“We win as a team, we lose as a team. Of course he (Karius) made mistakes but we are not blaming him. He will hold his hands up. He has been incredible since he go the No 1 jersey,” the Scotsman continued.

“He is young and he will learn from it. He will be a top, top keeper. We have fallen short and there are no words that we can say to Loz that will make it better for him.

“We went around him. We all gave him a hug and tried to lift him. I don’t think anyone thought that was going to happen. The manager went around us all on the pitch. But what can he say that will help him or any of us? It’s just about staying together,” Robertson added.

“We will do that and we will move on to next season. We can use it as motivation. We will try and use it as motivation for next season, come back and really work hard. We will try and get off to a flyer. But it will be a long summer. That’s for sure.

“It will be the longest off-season I’ve had. Some lads will go to the World Cup, I will try to rest but I will be itching to come back. All the lads will be the same. The quicker we get back, the better.”

The season is officially over and we can all hope that this loss helps ignite a “take no prisoners” mentality in the team, only with some added depth.